Governance: An international journal of policy, administration and institutions

When do bureaucrats’ preferences alter budgets?

A substantial literature demonstrates how politicians’ preferences shape budget outcomes. But that literature neglects how bureaucrats might also shape those outcomes. In the current issue of Governance, Martin Baekgaard, Jens Blom-Hansenand Soren Serritzlew develop a more sophisticated model that examines the influence of both politicians and bureaucrats. In a study of Danish local governments, “political preferences trump bureaucratic ones on questions salient to the public” — but there is “no evidence that political preferences matter on less salient policy areas.” Read the article.